


do I have to tell the story

by SafelyCapricious



Series: i put a spell on you [8]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Magic, F/M, Magical Tattoos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-15
Updated: 2016-04-15
Packaged: 2018-06-02 07:39:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,884
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6557953
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SafelyCapricious/pseuds/SafelyCapricious
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Lance hates this.</p><p>The Modern-Magic AU, from a new point of view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	do I have to tell the story

**Author's Note:**

> This is the same day as the last installment and is for the prompt: “You did all of this for me?” BioSpecialist with Jemma Lance brotp from tumblr. 
> 
> I expect there to be yelling from where I cut it last time and where I started this one, so let me assure you -- you will find out what happened after the last part, just not quite yet. <3 
> 
> _Also_ , I again find myself blown away by the continued enthusiasm of all of you and dedicate this chapter (and it's relative quickness) to everyone who commented on the last section (and for some of you going back and commenting on some of the other sections!) here on Ao3! Thank you so much, all of you!

Lance hates this. He hates this a lot.

He’s lived in Providence for longer than the others – had been doing odd protection (and sometimes intimidation) jobs before he’d met Bob. She’d come to work for Phil and Melinda and he’d found himself folded into their little family before he’d known what was what. But he’s lived here longer than the others and so he knows.

He knows about the Wards and he knows about Grant Ward specifically and –

He just knows better than the rest of them about what Ward is. He knows about the numerous allegations people used to make against him and how they’d be in the paper one day and gone the next and no one would even pretend like there hadn’t been threats.

There’s being afraid of someone powerful – that’s just common sense what with emotions and magic being so tightly bound – and then there’s knowing that the powerful someone in question isn’t ashamed of being a bully and doing what he wants because he knows he can.

Ward is the second. Locked up his family and stole their powers and Lance wouldn’t be surprised if he kicked puppies or something for fun.

So he’d been concerned when Ward had started showin’ interest in Jem. But then he’d seen it and heard the story of their first meeting and thought it made sense – bastard like that would want to try to intimidate someone who called him rude just because he could. He’s an entitled prick and him proving something to everyone by pushing the bounds of polite society; that makes _sense_.

This though, this doesn’t.

And he hates it.

“I hate this,” he mumbles, glaring at the door.

Bob rolls her eyes next to him – he doesn’t turn to look but he’s pretty sure she is anyways – and says, “Yes, Lance. We _know_.”

“It’s a bad idea,” he continues.

Skye’s head clunks against the table and it startles him enough to stop talking. Her voice is muffled, being face first against a table and all, but still clearly audible. “We _know_ you think it’s a bad idea.”

“I don’t just think–“

“Where’s Jemma?” Trip says, coming out of the back room with a tray of coffee and muffins. “Ward’s going to be here in,” he twists his arm and cranes his neck to see his watch without jostling the tray, “ten minutes. Someone should go make sure she’s up.”

“She’s up,” Fitz says, before anyone can move to wake her, rubbing at Skye’s back while she stays stationary, face down on the table.

Lance stands and twists to crack his back. He doesn’t manage it but he isn’t really expecting to, he’s too tense and restless – this is all a shite idea and no one is listening to him. “Well, I’ll get her then.” He wants a private word or two with her before this starts anyways, to make sure she’s not gonna feel obligated to do this to save everyone else or some nonsense like that.

Jemma’s too nice and it’s clear that Ward knows it and is planning to use it.

Fucker.

“Jemma’s _out_ ,” Fitz clarifies, hand pausing its soothing circles for a moment before he resumes, staring very pointedly not at anyone else in the room.

“What.” Lance does not like the implication and –

The bell over the door jingles its cheerful tone and Jemma walks in, Ward at her heels.

Bobbi’s hand is tight around his wrist suddenly and he realizes that she knew even before he did that he wanted to march forward and separate them. They aren’t even touching – at least physically, he’s always been shit at sensing magic – but he still wants to grab Jem and hustle her behind the counter and make Ward leave. Who cares that the whole purpose of this meeting is to talk to him about if they’re gonna help him or not.

Lance’s vote is not.

Bob’s grip tightens and he finds himself pulled down into the chair – they’d cleared off the herbs and crystals that had been on this table so that they could all sit around it and discuss things calmly.

He settles, unhappily, gaze and frown fixed firmly on where Ward is pulling out a chair for Jemma and he’s pushing it in for her and –

Prick.

Ward sits down far too close to Jemma for Lance’s comfort, and then with a twist of his hand slides a piece of paper onto the table. Trip moves before any of the others – sliding the tray onto the table and picking up the paper in the same motion.

Lance’s gaze darts between Trip’s face – poker levels of blank – and where Jemma and Fitz are having one of their “No Lance, we aren’t psychic, we’ve just known each other for a very long time” nonverbal conversations. Skye’s head is up now, eyes shifting back and forth between them and brow furrowed like she can understand what’s going on if she just tries hard enough.

“Huh,” Trip says, passing the paper to Bobbi – right over Lance’s head.

“Oi!” he protests on principle, but then Bob holds it out so he can read it too and…huh.

His eyes move to Ward who is leaning back in his chair, arms casually folded, head turned towards Jemma with a small smile on his face. Ward’s eyes move and meet Lance’s for an instant – and Lance, being insensitive to magic still finds himself flinching back, and glares to make up for it. Ward’s lip curls into an almost snarl and then Jemma shifts in her chair and Lance isn’t pinned to his seat by the other man’s gaze anymore.

He glares for another moment just to make sure Ward isn’t going to look back and gloat as soon as he looks away and then he starts paying attention to everyone else again.

Bobbi has passed the paper to Skye who holds it out so Fitz can read it – he waves it away and she frowns but reads quickly. Fitz and Jemma finish up their “not-conversation” and Skye puts the paper down, pushing it as close to the center of the table as it can get with the tray in the middle and then nabs a muffin.

“Well,” Bobbi says, after a minute of awkward silence. “We don’t have the spell you asked for – for your family but—“

“Oh!” Jemma exclaims and darts out of her chair and out of the main room towards the back – which is also where the staircase to her apartment is located.

Ward half rises like he’s going to follow her and Lance takes the opportunity to lean forward and say, “I don’t know what you’re playing at mate, but if you don’t stop whatever this bullshit is and leave Jemma alone I’ll –“

“You’ll what?” Ward’s voice is cool as he settles back in his chair, rests his elbows on the table and holds out his hands, his dragon tattoo peeling away from his skin and breathing a small burst of flame that Lance can feel across the table. “ _You_ can’t do anything to me. None of you can.”

Bob grabs the back of Lance’s shirt before he can lunge – and Ward sneers. “You dirty filthy –“

“What on earth is going on?” Jemma asks, fists on her hips and feet firmly planted, from the archway to the back.

Ward turns away first, his tattoo curling up visibly against his wrist but looking harmless. He shrugs, tilting his head slightly to look at her. “Slight difference of opinion.” And then he’s standing and moving to hold her seat out for her and she’s huffing and crossing the room and letting him push her in – again.

“Right,” she says, then unfolds a paper from her hand and passes it to Ward. “Will this suit?”

He blinks and smooths it down against the table, finger rapidly tapping and then he’s frighteningly still, only his eyes moving. “Jemma,” he says, turning and looking at her with such pleasure that Lance feels like a voyeur – and like he should screen Jem or make her move to a different country or something. “You did all of this…for me?”

She furrows her brow and tilts her head, mirroring him. “It wasn’t hard. We were just going about it backwards but once we figured out how to – Fitz helped, in any case.”

Ward drags his gaze off of Jem’s face and gives Fitz a slight nod, which he in turn returns and – what the fuck?

Are they seriously _making nice_ with him now?

Lance turns betrayed eyes to Bobbi who is staring at the paper with a frown and then she’s twitching her fingers and it’s sliding across the table but Trip reaches out and grabs it before it gets to her and –

Trip is doing that stupid poker face thing again and then his eyebrow is rising and he goes, “huh,” in exactly the same tone as earlier and –

Bob lets him read it over her shoulder when Trip hands it off to her again, (Skye is resting her chin on Bob’s other shoulder so she isn’t behind), and…Oh.

That’s…Lance is glad, at least, that this clearly didn’t occur to Ward either because he feels a bit foolish. All that Jemma (and Fitz, apparently) have outlined is a pretty straightforward geas that would bind Ward’s family so they couldn’t communicate anything threatening towards others. He’ll admit that the side notes on how to make it work for sign language and non-verbal communication go right over his head, but if Jem and Fitz think it’ll work it probably will.

He still doesn’t like it.

(But he’s man enough to admit that he likes it better than the way his mind had gone, this won’t increase their effectiveness at batteries for Ward at all.)

“Well,” Trip starts, being the first to grab a cup of coffee off the tray. “There’s that then. That wouldn’t give you any more power so that’s not a concern so the binding isn’t a necessary condition.” He grins sharp and shrugs. “So I guess we’ll charge you the going rate for getting it done and we can call it good.”

Lance has still mostly been watching Ward – who is still far too close to Jemma – and so he sees the moment when Trip mentions not needing the binding and Ward winces, just a tiny bit.

Good, Lance thinks, I hope you hate that – that you’re not getting what you want.

 But the wince is gone in an instant and then he’s back to smiling at Jemma – Jemma who was looking at Fitz when the wince happened and – Oh yeah, that bastard is definitely up to something.

Lance narrows his eyes. He doesn’t like this.

But before he can voice his opinion again Ward is inclining his head and asking specifics of Trip – Lance tunes them out because he doesn’t care about the discussion of where they’re getting the feverfew or if they’ll be free on the next new. Instead he fixes his gaze on where Jemma is staring at the table, the binding spell in front of her, tapping lightly against the table with a frown on her face. 

Oh yeah, Lance hates this.

He doesn’t even know what this is anymore, not for sure. But he hates it.

**Author's Note:**

> My writing tumblr can be found [here](http://capriciouswrites.tumblr.com/)! Come say hi!
> 
>  _Also,_ **also** , a few people have mentioned songs to me about this series and though I've never done one I was thinking of attempting a playlist/mixtape/8track sort of thing. Is that something any of you would be interested? And if yes are there any song suggestions that make you think of this universe? If I use your song you'll absolutely get credit! The only two that are guaranteed right now are "Every Little Thing She Does is Magic" and "I Put a Spell On You" for obvious reasons. 
> 
> Anyways! Thanks, as always, for reading and I hope you enjoyed!


End file.
